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the mining company resume operations, but only after taking steps to minimise its most
harmful aspects. The mine was up and running again in October 2013 but there were
concerns about whether the company was meeting its end of the agreement; the results of
its environmental impact assessment are yet to be made public.
Such democratic levels of transparency are something new for Myanmar's extractive
industries, which also include major gas and oil projects in the Bay of Bengal. In July
2013 the Shwe Gas Movement ( www.shwe.org ) issued a report slating the existing regu-
latory regime as woefully inadequate to address the social and environmental concerns
facing the country; pending changes, it recommended that further extractive projects
'should be put to a halt.' The Shwe Gas Project, a joint venture between the Myanmar
military and Indian and South Korean companies, includes the underwater extraction of
natural gas and its piping across Myanmar to China.
In February 2013 the Mandalay Region Legislative Assembly Committee set up the Ir-
rawaddy River Conservation Commission, prompting environmentalists to call for the
creation of a similar commission covering all of Myanmar's rivers.
 
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